Man arrested for allegedly sending a wave of package bombs around Washington, DC

WASHINGTON, March 27 (Reuters) - A Washington state man has been arrested for allegedly sending package bombs that did not explode to U.S. military sites and a CIA mail office in the Washington, D.C., area, the FBI said on Tuesday.

The suspect, Thanh Cong Phan, 43, was arrested on Monday at his home in Everett, Washington, by federal agents and sheriff's deputies, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement. He was scheduled to appear in federal court in Seattle on Tuesday afternoon.

Suspicious packages were received on Monday at mail processing sites at Fort Belvoir, Virginia; Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, which is a Navy-Air Force facility in the District of Columbia; and Fort Lesley J. McNair in the U.S. capital, the agency said.

The packages also turned up at mail facilities at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Virginia, and the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, Virginia.

"It is possible that further packages were mailed to additional mail processing facilities in the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan area," the FBI said. The packages were being analyzed at the FBI laboratory at Quantico, Virginia.

Officials at Fort McNair evacuated a building after one of the packages was delivered, a spokesman said. An Army bomb squad confirmed that the package tested positive for explosive residue and determined a fuse was attached, he said.

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Deadly package explosions in Texas

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Deadly package explosions in Texas

The doorway of a home that was hit with a fatal parcel bomb on March 2, 2018 is seen boarded-up in Austin, Texas, U.S., March 12, 2018. REUTERS/Jon Herskovitz

Isaac Machado hides behind his hat against his mother Delores just outside the scene of an explosion. Police investigators are at the home where a 17-year-old boy was killed and a woman injured in a package bomb explosion in Austin, Texas, U.S., March 12, 2018. REUTERS/Sergio Flores

Police and FBI officers guards the scene of an explosion in Austin, Texas, U.S., March 12, 2018. REUTERS/Sergio Flores

An FBI agent exits her car after arriving at the scene of an explosion near north Galindo street. Police investigators are at the home where a 17-year-old boy was killed and a woman injured in a package bomb explosion in Austin, Texas, U.S., March 12, 2018. REUTERS/Sergio Flores

Katelyn Ferguson, 20, gives an interview outside her home, up the street from where a woman was injured in a package bomb explosion in Austin in Austin, Texas, U.S., March 12, 2018. REUTERS/Sergio Flores

An FBI agent walks towards the crime scene after exiting her car, arriving at the scene of an explosion near north Galindo street. Police investigators are at the home where a 17-year-old boy was killed and a woman injured in a package bomb explosion in Austin, Texas, U.S., March 12, 2018. REUTERS/Sergio Flores

Austin Fire Department personnel attend the scene of a package explosion in the 6700 block of Galindo Street in east Austin, Texas, U.S. March 12, 2018. Austin Fire Department/Handout via REUTERS. ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY

An FBI agent exits her car after arriving at the scene of an explosion near north Galindo street. Police investigators are at the home where a 17-year-old boy was killed and a woman injured in a package bomb explosion in Austin, Texas, U.S., March 12, 2018. REUTERS/Sergio Flores

Isiah Guerrero, 15, gives an interview to the media in the neighbourhood of the scene of an explosion. Police investigators are at the home where a 17-year-old boy was killed and a woman injured in a package bomb explosion in Austin, Texas, U.S., March 12, 2018. REUTERS/Sergio Flores

Police chief Brian Manley speaks during a news conference near the scene where a woman was injured in a package bomb explosion in Austin, Texas, U.S., March 12, 2018. REUTERS/Sergio Flores

The doorway of a home that was hit with a fatal parcel bomb on March 2, 2018 is seen boarded-up in Austin, Texas, U.S., March 12, 2018. REUTERS/Jon Herskovitz

Police and federal agents walk away from a news conference near the scene where a woman was injured in a package bomb explosion in Austin, Texas, U.S., March 12, 2018.REUTERS/Sergio Flores

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Earlier in March in a separate incident at a U.S. military base, a man died after driving a minivan through the gate of Travis Air Force Base in California and igniting propane tanks and gasoline cans.

Several package bombs left on doorsteps and some sent from a Federal Express office were detonated in Austin, Texas, leaving two people dead and others injured. The suspected bomber blew himself up as police closed in on him. (Reporting by Mark Hosenball and Ian Simpson; editing by Scott Malone and Jonathan Oatis)